English 200 Level Guide
From ResearchWiki
- Loyola Notre Dame Library has a General Library Tutorial you can take to get acquainted with the library's resources.
- There is a separate Research Wiki page for the English 200 Library Research Assignment
Contents |
[edit] Finding Articles
To find articles on topics related to literature, use the following DATABASES, accessible on the Library web page (http://www.loyola.edu/library) via the databases on English Literature in Databases by Subject, or via particular databases such as the ones below, listed in Databases by Title.
Literary Criticism:
- MLA Bibliography: References to sources on literature, language and film. (1963-pres.) Includes citations to dissertations, book chapters and essay collections as well as citations to and full text of articles from journals.
- World Shakespeare Bibliography: (Citations only) Books, articles, theatrical productions and other works on Shakespeare.
- Project Muse: Full-text journals in literature, performing arts and other topics.
- JSTOR: Backfile of scholarly articles on many academic topics including literary criticism.
Reference Sources:
- Oxford English Dictionary: Definitions, etymology and the history of words
- Literature Resource Center: Excerpts of critical works, overviews of author's works, articles and biographical information.
[edit] Finding the Full Text of Articles in Databases
Often the databases (or bibliographies such as Works Cited lists at the end of an article) will provide citations but not the full text of an article. When you have a citation and need to find the full text, try the following steps.
- Select (if included with citation) 'search for full-text.'
- If full text is not available, search 'Find E-Journals' from the library home page to see if the journal is full-text online (search by title of the journal, NOT the title of the article). (Tutorial).
- Search the Library Catalog (SHARC) to see if a hard copy of the journal is located in our library.
- Request an article from interlibrary loan (ILL) if the journal is neither full-text online nor in the library. This can take up to 2 weeks.
[edit] Finding Books (tutorial)
- Search the Library Catalog (SHARC) by keyword, title, author or subject. Books are organized in the Loyola/Notre Dame Library by call number, where the first (and sometimes second) character is a letter of the alphabet. Most books (reference books are on the main floor) relevant to literary criticism will be found on the lower level in the 'P' section of the library book stacks, especially PN, PR and PS. (See Map) Pay attention to the location of the book as the library shares it's catalog with 5 other libraries.
- Types of books you will find include:
| * Monographs | (Books devoted to a single topic, such as a writer or literary movement, with the same author(s) responsible for all parts of the book) |
| * Essay Collections | (Separate but related essays on periods, movements, themes, etc., usually by different authors, edited into one volume) |
| * Annotated Bibliographies | (Organized lists of citations to books and articles on a topic - such as criticism of an author - including notes beneath each citation) |
| * Literary Biographies | (Books describing the life and work of an author) |
| * Anthologies | (Collections of literary works sharing a period, place, movement, genre, or theme, usually in a single volume) |
- Getting maximal use out of all the above resources involves more than just reading the main text; consult the endnotes, works cited lists, tables of contents and indexes contained in these books to evaluate their contents, aid understanding, and discover other helpful works.
- The library catalog is shared with 5 other libraries. If a book you find is held at a different library, use the "make a request" link on the right side of the page (you have to click on the title to get to that page) to request it (24-48 hour turnaround). You will need the barcode on your school ID.
- If you can’t find a book in the library catalog, you can request it through ILL
[edit] Researching the Reception History of a Particular Work
Print Resources:
- Bibliographies and biographies on the author studied (search library catalog)
- Reference series (in the reference stacks on the main level) which include excerpts of criticism of authors' works over time, e.g.:
| * Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. | PN86 .L53 |
| * Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism | PN761 .N5 |
| * Contemporary Literary Criticism | PN771 .C59 |
| * Twentieth Century Literary Criticism | PN771 .G27 |
| * Poetry Criticism | PN1010 .P49 |
| * Short Story Criticism | PN3373 .S56 |
Online Resources:
- Literature Resource Center: Excerpts of critical works, overviews of author's works, articles and biographical information.
- New York Times (1851-1998) for reviews of works published during this time period.
- Reader's Guide Retrospective (1890-1982): References to reviews on works published during this time period.
- Early English Books Online Digital Library of the first 125,000 books printed in English from 1475-1700.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online Searchable full-text access to works published in Great Britain from 1701-1800. Based on the English Short Title Catalog, this digital library now covers works in history, geography, literature, social sciences and fine arts.
- American Periodical Series 1740-1900 American magazines and journals from 1741, including over 1,100 periodicals ranging from America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal.
[edit] Using MLA Style for Citations
"Citations" are the bibliographic information (author, title, etc.) about a book, article or other document that you include a) in your text after quotes and paraphrases, and b) in notes and works cited lists. The citations that you find in databases such as the MLA Bibliography and the library catalog are not formatted in MLA style, but they usually include the necessary elements; you just have to re-order and/or re-format them to make them conform to MLA style. You can find an example of reformatting a database citation (in the complete form appropriate for a note or Works Cited list) here.
The library’s web site has a more complete MLA tip sheet at:
http://www.loyola.edu/library/ref/MLA.HTM
And the library also has the complete MLA Handbook:
Gibaldi, John. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003. (In Reference section and circulating stacks at LB2369.G53 2003)
